Many tourists who head to China on their own and travel within the territory of the Middle Kingdom by train or plane manage to make their way just fine - even if they do not really speak Chinese.

Domestic flights are relatively inexpensive, and considering the distances from one corner of this huge country to the other, it might be wise to take the plane and spend more time on seeing the places instead of on being on the road.

But on the other hand, nothing beats taking the train if you wish to make contact with some local people and really feel how far you are traveling. When you have been sitting in that seat for hours, or even days, you are bound to understand the proportions and the diversity of China.

Buying a train ticket is not that complicated and in bigger cities you might even get service in English, but it is still worth the trouble to learn some basic traveling vocabulary in Chinese!

In Chinese, "train" is huŏchē. Huŏ means "fire," and chē is "cart" or "vehicle." "Fire wagon... " makes sense, although trains have gone electric quite some time ago. When talking about traveling by train, in Chinese you should use the verb for "sit," zuò. "To take a train" = zuò huŏchē ( 坐 火 车）

"Railway station" is huŏchēzhàn. Zhàn means "station" and applies to bus stations as well as train stations. With this vocabulary you will manage to find your way to the local railway station, congratulations! The next step is to find the ticket office, shòupiào chù...

Train ticket is huŏchēpiào. Piào is a general term for all kinds of traveling tickets or entrance tickets. And then you just place your order by saying: Wŏ yào măi yì zhāng huŏchēpiào. Wŏ yào means "I want," măi is the verb "to buy," yì zhāng = "one piece." Zhāng is a measure word, of which there are a lot of in Chinese. The measure word zhāng is used when talking about flat items, such as a bed, a sheet of paper, a ticket and paper money.

Purchasing a train ticket might be quite a painstaking experience because, especially during the high season like the Chinese New Year, the train is a hugely popular form of mass transportation. Bigger train stations have their own service desks for foreigners, but you should not count on that being the case in every city. You should also be prepared to stand in line - and hope that you have chosen the right queue.

In China, you have the option of paying more for a place that lets you sit or sleep comfortably, or less for a hard seat or bed. On a short journey, a hard seat, yìng zuò, will do, but in when traveling for hours, it is advisable to invest some money in a soft seat, ruăn zuò. And as the distances in China can be enormous, sleeper wagons are common. Here again, your options are a hard bed, yìng wò, and a soft bed, ruăn wò.

And since you have now managed to purchase your ticket, we wish you bon voyage, lǚ tú yúkuài!

huŏchē 火 车 train
zuò huŏchē 坐 火 车 to take the train
huŏchēzhàn 火 车 站 railway station
shòupiào chù 收 票 处 ticket office
huŏchēpiào 火 车 票 train ticket
yìng zuò 硬 座 hard seat
ruăn zuò 软 座 soft seat
yìng wò 硬 卧 hard bed
ruăn wò 软 卧 soft bed

Wŏ yào măi yì zhāng huŏchēpiào
我 要 买 一 张 火 车 票 I want to buy a train ticket
Lǚ tú yúkuài 旅 途 愉 快 Have a nice trip!